A Soldier's Suicide

Each April 25, on ANZAC Day, Australians honor the valor of their soldiers in wars past and present. In recent years, thousands of troops—more than at any time since Vietnam—have served in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their actions have won praise at home and abroad. But one soldier's fate suggests that once they leave the military, some veterans face a hard and lonely time.

Geffrey 'G' Gregg committed suicide last September, aged 25. In 2002, he was serving with the Army in Afghanistan when he was attached as a signaller to an SAS patrol. The team became embroiled in a firefight that left 11 Afghan civilians dead. Some members (not Gregg) later traded claims of cowardice and mutiny, sparking an official inquiry that saw three SAS men return prematurely to Australia.

TIME spoke to Gregg in 2005, when it first published details of the mission. He expressed grave concerns about the army's handling of the incident and other Special Air Service Regiment patrols in Afghanistan. He said after the patrol he had been pressured to write a report which reflected badly on the patrol commander. "That poor bugger the patrol commander has been through hell and back," he said at the time.

Gregg also said he was also harassed by other soldiers who believed a young signaller should never have been sent on the patrol. "I was put in that position and none of it was to do with me or was my fault," he said. He told TIME he was enthusiastic about leaving the army but was having difficulty finding work due to an injury sustained during military training. "There's no actual civilian employment I can slot back into with my military training that interests me. I was hoping to look at offshore security work but I'm not sure," he said.

He later quit the Army and was granted a temporary pension. When it ran out he got a job as an apprentice carpenter. Friends, who claim Gregg had post-traumatic stress disorder, say having to work worsened his fragile mental state. They learned only after his death that the military superannuation fund had classified Gregg as unable to work and a suicide risk.

Veterans Affairs Minister Bruce Billson says he is concerned that "Gregg does not appear to have accessed the services available to him." John Ryan, who heads the Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex-Servicemen and Women, wants the government to fund a study to try to identify veterans at risk of suicide. What troops in Afghanistan and Iraq go through, he says, is what all combat soldiers experience. "When people are subjected to what happens in wars, it's very unhealthy." For veterans in 2007, "we need to do a better job."

Read more about Geoffrey Gregg's SAS patrol.